


The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot

by emperorpenguin (dortmundbvbbabe)



Series: Maybe You Could Love Me Too [1]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Friends With Benefits, Love Triangles, M/M, More like love squares, Unhappy Ending, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-25
Updated: 2017-07-25
Packaged: 2018-12-06 16:38:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11604606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dortmundbvbbabe/pseuds/emperorpenguin
Summary: The thing between Travis and Ivan was just casual, it was always meant to stay that way. Besides, Ivan had had someone back in Brandon who he was still hung up on and Travis knew that. When Ivan returned though after the summer, Travis realized that he'd fallen for Ivan probably since they'd started sleeping together, but now Ivan's old friend from Brandon is back and his old feelings for Nolan reappear.





	The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot

What they had was easy. It started after Ivan had scored the brace against the Blackhawks, two goals in 31 seconds and Travis almost lost it on the bench. “Holy shit! Two goals,” he had said on the way back to the locker room, shaking Ivan in the process.

Ivan just grinned. 

“Two goals against the fucking Blackhawks,” Travis shouted. 

Ivan was dragged through the media before he could properly celebrate the game, but Travis headed straight for the showers high on the winning feeling. Of course, to the media, Ivan was still rather stoic, though today he showed a small smile. Even though to most, it would seem that Ivan took the brace in stride, Travis knew he was on cloud nine. 

The euphoric feeling followed them back on the bus as they returned to the hotel. Travis continued to give a play-by-play of those priceless 31 seconds on the elevator ride up even though the entire team had just witnessed it hours before. Ivan fished out their room key and opened the door smiling as he shoved Travis inside.

“That was so fucking sexy,” Travis said as he flopped back on his bed. 

“Yeah?” Ivan asked fully expecting Travis to be joking.

“Yeah,” Travis said, “Two goals in your third NHL game, that’s fucking hot.”

Ivan smiled and then something broke between them. The tension that people had passed off as part of their friendship exploded either from the high of the win or because they were allowing themselves to celebrate, but Travis stood up and crossed the room.

He was smaller than Ivan as they almost stood face to face and Travis gently tugged at the hem of Ivan’s shirt. Ivan could push him away and that would be it, tomorrow they would go on being friends and nobody would be wiser, but Ivan didn’t push him away. 

Instead, he raised his arms making it easier for Travis to pull the shirt over his head and toss it on the ground. Travis unbuckled Ivan’s pants and slid them down around his ankles. “You good?” He asked.

Ivan nodded and Travis walked him back so that he was sitting on the edge of the bed. “I’m gonna make you feel so good,” Travis promised as he lowered Ivan’s boxers. He kissed his way down Ivan’s chest until he ended up at his inner thigh. The anticipation caused Ivan’s legs to tremble slightly and Travis just gently ran his hands up and down Ivan’s legs to calm him a little. On his knees, Travis looked up to double check that it was okay with Ivan and gently swallowed him. Ivan’s breath hissed sharply and his fingers nested in Travis’s hair as he urged him to continue. Travis smiled as Ivan’s fingers tightened almost to the point where it hurt, but Travis wasn’t going to complain. He watched as Ivan fell apart in front of him, giving him little indication that he was coming before it happened. 

“Sorry,” Ivan said when he was more lucid and saw where there were spots on Travis’s face and shirt. Travis just shrugged though and wiped his face with his shirt sleeve- it was dirty now anyways, and smiled.

He headed to the bathroom and stripped off his shirt. His jaw was a little sore afterwards, but he felt self-congratulatory in the fact that he was the one to make Ivan fall apart like that. He tossed Ivan a damp wash cloth and went back in the bathroom to try and clean out the stains.

Neither of them commented about it before they went to bed, and Travis thought it would become one of those things that they both knew about but never spoke of again. But after he’d turned the lights off, Ivan said, “That was a fucking good blow job.”

“That was a fucking good game,” Travis said.

 

So it became a thing. If one of them had a particularly good game, they’d celebrate. If they had a bad game, well, there was such a thing a comfort sex. It had started off as swapping blow jobs, but progressed to more. At first it was only on roadies when they were both sharing a bedroom, but then they’d even do it sometimes when they were back in Philly. Ivan was cautious, but daring, and always willing and Travis was single since the lifestyle of a rookie didn’t lend itself well to relationships. Then one day, Travis kissed Ivan and it was something that neither of them had done because it’s one thing to help a friend out but it’s another thing to kiss them. Ivan had pulled back and for a split second Travis thought that he’d pushed too far, but instead Ivan just smiled his shy, hesitant smile and kissed him back before they had sex.

“It’s been a while,” Ivan said blissfully as he relaxed after they’d had sex.

Travis was sharing his bed, carefully studying the curve of Ivan’s spine, “Yeah, what since Brandon?”

Ivan stilled and Travis realized that he’d hit the nail on the head.

“Yeah,” Ivan said.

“Good for you, man,” Travis said.

“How long’s it been for you?” Ivan asked as he flipped over to look at Travis.

“With a guy? Not since juniors. With a girl? Just after I got to Philly.”

“Did you love her?” Ivan asked.

Travis laughed, “Do you love everyone you sleep with?”

“I’m not in love with you,” Ivan mumbled into his pillow. 

Travis snorted, “Yeah, yeah.” 

The arrangement worked for them. If any of the veterans knew, they didn’t show it nor did they seem to care. They were friends who fucked sometimes. The rest of the time their friendship carried on as normal. They’d grab dinner together, play video games, and occasionally carpool to the arena. Slowly, Travis realized that he’d stopped picking up, even though that was rare to begin with. Ivan was there and he was eager and the arrangement benefited them both. Besides, Travis wasn’t one of those romantic people but he prefered  _ liking _ the person he was sleeping with over just having met them. Besides, Ivan was his best friend and nothing had changed between them.

 

They spent one last night together after the Flyers’ season ended. Neither of them were particularly surprised that they hadn’t made it to the playoffs, they were in the hardest division in the league and they hadn’t had a great year anyways.

“I’ll miss you,” Travis said as he rested his head on Ivan’s chest.

Ivan sighed though Travis heard the smile in his voice, “We’re the type of friends to have heart to hearts now?”

“We could be,” Travis said. 

Ivan murmured and gently stroked Travis’s hair, “You know next year will be different.”

“Right,” Travis said. Ivan was repeating what they always told the fans. This wasn’t their season, next year would be different, they’d try harder. 

“No, seriously, we have second pick in the lottery,” Ivan said.

“Mhmm… we’re getting the Swiss kid, right?” Travis said.

“I hope not,” Ivan said. “I mean, he seems great, but I kind of hope that we’ll get Nolan.”

“Oh that’s right, you played together in Brandon right?”

“Yeah, he’s a brilliant guy,” Ivan said with a wistfulness in his voice.

“Then let’s hope we get him then.”

 

Ivan had returned to Russia shortly after the Flyers were excluded from the playoffs, but he was back for the Flyers training camp. He and Travis had been messaging throughout the summer, at least once a day and Travis had gotten to see parts of Russia that he assumed that he’d never see in real life, and perhaps these weren’t the most interesting parts of Russia to most people. He hadn’t recognized any of the really famous sites, like the Kremlin or St. Basil’s Cathedral, but nevertheless, Travis had enjoyed seeing what Ivan was seeing. He replied with pictures of his own fishing adventures, but they were presumably less exciting on Ivan’s end. 

_ NOLAN’S A FLYER!!!!!!!  _ Ivan sent after the draft. It must have been early in the morning for him, but Ivan was watching the draft over in Russia.  _ My boy’s coming to Philly _ was the follow up.

Travis knew they had been close, but he had assumed that they were close in the way most teammates were. He’d seen though in the news coverage more articles linking the two of them. Apparently, Ivan had texted Nolan to tell him that it’d be fun playing together again. Nolan had said that Ivan was the best player he’d ever played with, by a mile. There was something about the articles that made Travis’s stomach churn, but he couldn’t pinpoint why. He just knew that for the first time, he wished they hadn’t drafted Nolan Patrick. 

 

_ You arriving early for camp? _ Travis wrote.

_ Yeah. I’ll be there about a week before. _

_ Cool, my place? _

_ Sure. _

 

Travis changed his return flight to just before Ivan was set to arrive. He has just finished unpacking the necessities in his apartment before he picked Ivan up from the airport. He was playing on his phone in the arrivals area when he saw Ivan arrive. He looked tired from the long flight from Russia, but looked happy. He abandoned the carrier with several of his bags when he spotted Travis. 

“Hey,” Ivan said.

Travis wrapped his arms around Ivan’s waist in a hearty hug before he reached out to grab some of Ivan’s bags.

“Welcome back,” Travis said.

Occasionally, Travis found himself glancing over at Ivan when the car was pulled up to a stop light. It was hard to describe since they’d been apart for just a few weeks and had seen each other at Worlds, but Ivan looked different.

After the third time looking over, the second time that Ivan had caught him staring, he asked about it, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Don’t know, you just look different.”

“What do you mean?”

“Older, I guess, thicker,” Travis shrugged. It was true, but something had changed. Ivan’s skin had cleared up, he’d gotten a better haircut, and he’d packed on some muscle that he’d lost throughout the season. 

Ivan just laughed.

 

They dragged Ivan’s stuff up to Travis’s apartment and Ivan looked exhausted. “Mind if I just take a nap?” Ivan asked.

“Go for it,” Travis said.

Ivan beelined for Travis’s room and when Travis went to go check on him later, he was completely asleep.

It wasn’t until dinner time that Ivan resurfaced from the bedroom. He’d stripped down to only his boxers and had pulled on one of Travis’s larger T-shirts. Travis couldn’t help but grin as he saw Ivan wearing his clothes. 

“Hungry?”

“Yeah,” Ivan said.

“Well, I made your favorite pasta as a welcome back dinner.”

“That’s the only thing you can make,” Ivan said.

“And you love it,” Travis said. 

Ivan’s cell phone buzzed and he looked down mid-forkful and grinned. He quickly typed back a response, seemingly forgetting that Travis was even there.

“Who’s that?” Travis asked. 

“Uh, Nolan, he was asking to see when I could come over,” Ivan said.

“Is he here?” 

“Yeah, he’s been here most of the summer,” Ivan said. “Have you met him yet?” 

“Nah.”

“Want to go over with me?” Ivan asked.

“When, like now?” Travis asked.

“Yeah, well after dinner.”

“You guys have a lot to catch up on,” Travis said, “I’m sure I’ll meet him soon.”  
Ivan does the dishes up because even though he’d made himself a fixture at Travis’s place, he still had his manners. “I’ll be back later,” Ivan said.

Travis sighed when he was left alone in his apartment. Ivan was just enthusiastic because he was seeing a good friend for the first time in a while, right? Travis had nothing to be jealous of. He ended up watching the Phillies game, even though they weren’t really his team, but he felt a sense of loyalty since Philadelphia teams need to stick together. He found himself waiting around for Ivan, just since Ivan had returned, and jolted when his phone buzzed.  

_ I’m sleeping over tonight. _ Ivan texted. 

That was fine. Ivan was still tired and they’d be catching up on what happened in their summers and about mutual friends that Ivan had lost contact with since moving to Philadelphia. 

 

When Travis went to bed, after the Phillies lost, he smirked to himself when he saw that Ivan had made the bed after he’d slept in it. Of course, Ivan had. He changed into his pajamas and crawled under the covers and just before he fell asleep, he recognized the familiar scent of Ivan on his pillows, one that he hadn’t realized he’d missed all summer long.

 

Travis woke up when he heard the lock turn in his front door. He’d been bugging the landlord to fix it, but it was always low on his priority list. He padded out to the living room, knowing that it could only be one of two people who he’d given a spare key to in case of emergencies.

“Sorry, I didn’t know if you were awake?” Ivan said. 

“It’s fine,” Travis said groggily. “How was it?”

“Good, it was good to catch up. He seems to be adjusting well and he said that he’s excited to meet you, and you know the rest of the team.”  
“Yeah?”

“Yeah, he’s a great guy. You’ll really like him,” Ivan said.

“I’m sure. He’ll be a great addition to the team,” Travis said ignoring the forced tone to his voice.

“Yeah. Well, I’m grabbing my bags and I’ll see if my apartment is still in order.” 

“Yeah, good luck. Want to grab dinner later?” 

“Oh sorry, Nolan and I planned to go see the latest Spiderman while it’s still in theaters.”

“It’s all good,” Travis shrugged.

“Tomorrow, though,” Ivan promised.

“Uh, tomorrow I’m meeting up with a family friend who’s in town.”

“So maybe after the first practice?” Ivan asked.

“Yeah, we’ll grab lunch afterwards,” Travis said.   

 

The first practice has everyone eager to get off to the right start. Everyone is skating their fastest and best to try and impress the coaches and their teammates. They’re getting prodded and doing all sorts of fitness tests to prove that they didn’t just sit on their asses all summer long. When Travis is getting his ear poked for the lactate test, he notices Ivan and Nolan chatting in the corner. Ivan’s smiling at him, he was smiling that shy smile that Travis had seen on rare occasions directed towards him. Here Ivan was looking at Nolan as if he hung the moon and Nolan was smiling back. Travis’s stomach dropped.

“Hey, ready to grab lunch?” Ivan asked with his bag slung over his shoulder.

“Yeah, there’s a place that Ghost was telling me about,” Travis said.

“Do you mind if I join you?” Nolan asked as he raced to catch up to them.

Travis closed his eyes. It wasn’t Nolan’s fault, he was just trying to be friendly. 

Ivan was looking at Travis with the damn puppy dog eyes which is how the three of them ended up in Travis’s car heading to the Italian restaurant that Ghost had recommended.

“Are you feeling better?” Travis asked.

“Yeah, practice felt good today,” Nolan said. 

“Good.”

They lulled into an awkward silence.

“Uh, how was Spiderman?” Travis asked.

“Great! We both liked it a lot, didn’t we, Ivan?” Nolan asked.

“Yeah, much better than the last ones with uh, what’s his name?”

“Andrew Garfield?” Nolan offered. 

“Yeah.”

“Cool,” Travis said.

The truth was Travis was glad when the food arrived so that he would be spared having to continue the painful conversation. Ivan twirled a forkful of pasta and slid it onto Nolan’s dish without even having been asked and in return Nolan cut off a piece of his eggplant parmesan. Seeing Travis watching, Nolan asked, “Would you like to try some too?”

“I’m fine, thanks, though,” Travis waved it off.  
He grabbed the check despite protests from Nolan and Ivan, “Veterans treat rookies.”

“I’m not a rookie,” Ivan protested. 

“Yeah, you can grab the tab next time,” Travis said when he signed off on the credit card bill. 

 

After Travis dropped Nolan back off at his car, Ivan stuck around, “Hey, thanks for including him. I know it was supposed to be me and you for lunch, but I really appreciate it. He’s had a little bit of a hard time with the surgery and getting drafted second.”

“Yeah, it’s good that he has such a great friend like you here,” Travis said.

“I just want to make it as easy for him as possible,” Ivan said.

“Yeah.”

 

It was subtle at first, but Travis slowly found himself pulling away from Ivan and the rest of the group. He’d make sure to schedule things right after practice. He didn’t want to lie, but he didn’t want to have no reason not to go to team things. If it was mostly the vets, or if Nolan couldn’t go, Travis would tag along. Ivan kept inviting Travis along when he had plans with Nolan and Nolan would look at him encouragingly, but Travis always decline. It was always Nolan. Again and again and again. Ivan was always looking at Nolan, always wondering where he’d been, how he was feeling and Travis always wondered why Ivan never looked at him that way. 

 

“Come on, we’re getting something to eat,” Ghost said as he wrapped an arm over Travis’s shoulder.

“I can’t,” Travis protested.

“Just me and you, linemate bonding time,” Ghost said, “I’ll even pay.”

“I feel like I don’t have a choice,” Travis said as he sat for the passenger seat of Ghost’s car.

“Here’s a choice, it’s either me or G.”

Travis went to leave the car, but Ghost had already locked the doors.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Travis gritted.

“Okay, that might work on Ivan, but it doesn’t work on me, kid,” Ghost said.

“You’re four years older than me,” Travis said. 

“Right, which is why I know what I’m talking about. Ivan’s great, but he’s also one of the densest people I’ve met.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Ghost pulled into the nearly empty parking lot of a Mexican restaurant and picked a table far from anyone to eat at. They ordered 

“So this is how I see it, and correct me if I’m wrong. Last season you and Ivan were close, both rookies, both new and you started fucking. Fine, whatever. Okay, then something happened this summer and you caught feelings for him and you come back and then Nolan’s here. And it’s no longer the Travis and Ivan show and he has no fucking clue. So you can’t deal with your feelings so you come up with every excuse in the book not to hang out with him because you can’t imagine the possibility of him not liking you.”

Travis was silent. Thankfully, their burritos arrived and Travis was spared answering.

“Am I wrong? If you love someone you tell them,” Ghost said.

“Are you seriously quoting Grey’s Anatomy?” Travis asked.

Ghost shrugged as he bit into his burrito, “Gina loves it, but it’s true though.”

“You were wrong about one thing though,” Travis said and he felt an uncomfortable lump settle in his throat. “It’s not a possibility that he doesn’t like me. I know he doesn’t.”

“Has he said that?”  
“No, but-”

“He liked you enough to fuck you for nearly six months,” Ghost said. “I still say tell him.”  
“You’re not going to, are you?”

“No, no. I’m not into that sort of shit, besides you’re my liney and I’m on your side, but I am serious when I say this is messing with the team dynamics. Nobody did anything last year when you had your fuck buddies arrangement because it didn’t affect the team, but this is affecting the team so you and Ivan need to get it together.”

 

“Hey, want to play Call of Duty at my place?” Ivan asked a couple weeks later.

“You finally bought it?” Travis asked. 

“Yeah,” Ivan smiled. Travis hesitantly looked to see if Nolan was coming. “Just me and you this time.”

“Okay,” Travis agreed.

They drove in comfortable silence, Travis for once was speechless. It was funny how he had forgotten how to talk to someone who had been his best friend just a few weeks earlier.

“Is everything okay?” Ivan asked.

“Yeah,” Travis said.

“I haven’t seen you a lot lately,” Ivan said.

“You see me everyday at practice,” Travis shrugged.

“It’s not the same,” Ivan said, “You know it.”  
“I guess I’ve just been having a rough time,” Travis said.

“Sorry, I- I didn’t realize it. You know you can always tell me,” Ivan said, “Like the whole #Bell Let’s Talk thing.”

“Not like that, but, uh, thanks. Besides we aren’t the type of friends who talk about that sort of stuff,” Travis said.

“We could be,” Ivan replied. Travis didn’t say anything else until they reached Ivan’s apartment.

 

Ivan was still terrible at Call of Duty. As Travis sat on the couch, it felt so familiar that it almost felt like last season just the two of them.

Ivan got a text message and glanced at his phone, getting shot while momentarily distracted. He beamed. 

“Nolan?” Travis asked. It was only Nolan who could make him smile like that.

“Yeah.”

“He was who you had in Brandon,” Travis said. It wasn’t a question. 

“What?”

“Nolan, you were with him in Brandon,” Travis said with even more certainty now. “You love him.”  
Ivan swallowed, “Why do you say that?”

“Am I wrong?” Travis asked. “It’s the way you look at him, and the way that he looks at you.”

“Do the others know?” Ivan asked, the lack of denial was like Travis’s heart was being stabbed by sewing needles.

“I don’t know,” Travis said.

“You can’t say anything. I mean people are already scrutinizing him and just it would be really bad. He doesn’t need this on top of everything else,” Ivan said.

“I… I wouldn’t… I mean, you know me,” Travis said, “I wouldn’t do that. I wouldn’t do that to him because I’m not an asshole and I wouldn’t do that to you because that would hurt you. I would never do something to deliberately hurt you.”

Ivan sighed, “I know you wouldn’t.”

Travis picked up his bag and headed for the door.

“Travis, please. I’m sorry,” Ivan said.

“You’ve been saying that an awful lot these days, haven’t you?” Travis shot back and he hated the way his eyes watered and his voice broke. He ordered an Uber on the elevator ride to the ground floor and while he waited outside, he almost expected Ivan to follow him. He didn’t and Travis didn’t know if he was sad or relieved about it. 

 

Travis heard a knock on the door and he rolled his eyes knowing it was Ivan. Ivan probably didn’t understand what he’d done wrong, but he was probably here to grovel because he couldn’t stand someone being mad at him.

“Go away, Ivan.”

The knocking continued, “Jesus, I don’t want to talk to you-” He opened the door, but instead of Ivan, Nolan was there.

“Ivan isn’t here,” Travis said.

“I know, uh, I was actually here to see you,” Nolan said. “Your doorman let me up, I hope that was okay.”

Travis shrugged and opened the door for Nolan to come in.

“Ivan told me about what happened.”  
“I’m not going to tell anyone,” Travis promised.

“I know, that wasn’t why I was here. I actually wanted to talk to you. Uh, sorry, this is kind of awkward, but I didn’t think you liked me when I first came here. I mean we went out to lunch that one time, but you didn’t seem to like me. I asked Ivan about it, but he said there was nothing wrong, but for the longest time I wondered why you didn’t like me. At first, you know, I thought it might be the draft thing, since some people get weird about that, but there are others who were drafted higher than you and you were fine with them. So then I thought it was about playing time, that you were worried about the lineup or whatever, but everyone’s been shifted around.

“I don’t think it’s me you dislike though,” Nolan said.

“I don’t dislike you,” Travis said, feeling bad that Nolan had been a casualty of his feelings for Ivan.

“I know,” Nolan said, “I get it now. You don’t dislike me, it was never about me, really, was it?”

“No, I’m sorry about it,” Travis said sincerely.

“I want to be friends, or at least for us to get along and maybe that’s a little weird right now, but from my end, we’re good, okay?” Nolan said.

“How did you get so smart?” Travis asked. 

“I was a captain, you know,” Nolan said. 

“So was I,” Travis said.

“Yeah, but I’m not afraid of the tough conversations,” Nolan said and for a moment Travis thought he was criticizing him before seeing the light in his eyes. 

“Yeah, yeah, you’re the hotshot.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow at practice, okay?” Nolan said.

“Yeah, I’ll see you later.”

 

When Travis opened his door to head to practice, he was surprised to see Ivan sitting on the floor with two Starbucks drinks next to him.

“You do have a key you know,” Travis said.

“Yeah, I just, I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to use it,” Ivan said.

“If you have a really good apology you get key privileges back,” Travis said as he accepted the drink Ivan offered him.

“I’m sorry for what I said to you yesterday. I know you would never do anything like that. I know nobody on the team would do something like that, but I just felt like I had told someone else’s secret, you know, that I had no right to tell.”

“I talked to Nolan about it yesterday,” Travis said. “He’s a good kid.”

“Carpooling?” Ivan asked.

“Sure.”

“He is a good guy,” Ivan continued, “You know, it wasn’t really a relationship at the time. I mean kind of, but we both knew I was leaving at the end of the season so there was an end date. And as far as break ups go, if it even was that, it was good, but I didn’t really forget about him.”

“What about his feelings?” Travis asked.

“I don’t know,” Ivan said, “I don’t know if he even wants a relationship.”

“But you want one don’t you?” Travis asked.

“Yeah, I mean, if it’s a possibility,” Ivan said.

Travis pushed down his own feelings of wanting to tell Ivan to forget about Nolan, to say that he had a spot in Travis’s apartment, if he wanted it, that Travis would love him and make him so, so happy if he let him. “You know, this guy on Grey’s Anatomy said ‘If you love someone you tell them.’”

“You’re quoting a soap opera?” 

“It’s not a soap opera, but yeah, it’s good advice.”

Ivan smiled, “You think I should tell him?”  
“I think if you don’t you’ll always wonder what if. Besides, if he rejects you you can always come to me for rejection sex.”

“Is that even a thing?” 

“Uh, they have birthday sex, make up sex, we can make rejection sex a thing,” Travis said.

“After practice, then, uh, sorry, can you get a ride home,” Ivan asked, “I got to do it while I still have the courage.”

“Yeah, I’ll get an Uber or one of the rookies,” Travis said.

 

It took superhuman control, but Travis held himself together throughout practice. He was hitting some of his most powerful shots at Neuvirth. “You’re on fire today,” Neuvirth shouted, “Save some for the game though.”

Ghost looked at him curiously throughout the practice and Travis hated how the older man always seemed to know.

 

“Good luck,” Travis said to Ivan after practice before Ivan chased after Nolan to talk. 

Ghost had waited around and almost everyone else had left after showering.

“Please don’t say anything,” Travis said as he turned and cried into Ghost’s chest. The veteran wrapped his arms around Travis and let him cry right there. 

“Oh, what did you do?” 

“I was a good friend,” Travis said, “I fixed things, like you told me to.” He cried and clung to Ghost like a life raft and he hated how much he felt like a child. Ghost kept trying to calm him down, gently stroking his hair like his mother used to. 

“I’m sorry,” Ghost said once Travis calmed down to only hiccups.

“At least one of us will be happy.” They both knew though that it wouldn’t be Travis. 


End file.
